Exosomes can be efficiently isolated in a short period of time by the specific interaction of titanium dioxide with the phosphate groups on the surface of phospholipid bilayer.

Magnetic covalent organic frameworks were synthesized as novel hydrophilic materials for specific enrichment of glycopeptides.

Mass spectrometry (MS)-based glycoproteomics research requires highly efficient sample preparation to eliminate interference from non-glycopeptides and to improve the efficiency of glycopeptide detection. In this work, a novel MoS/Au-NP (gold nanoparticle)-L-cysteine nanocomposite was prepared for glycopeptide enrichment. The two-dimensional (2D) structured MoS nanosheets served as a matrix that could provide a large surface area for immobilizing hydrophilic groups (such as L-cysteine) with low steric hindrance between the materials and the glycopeptides. As a result, the novel nanomaterial possessed an excellent ability to capture glycopeptides. Compared to commercial zwitterionic hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (ZIC-HILIC) materials, the novel nanomaterials exhibited excellent enrichment performance with ultrahigh selectivity and sensitivity (approximately 10 fmol), high binding capacity (120 mg g), high enrichment recovery (more than 93%), satisfying batch-to-batch reproducibility, and good universality for glycopeptide enrichment. In addition, its outstanding specificity and efficiency for glycopeptide enrichment was confirmed by the detection of glycopeptides from an human serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) tryptic digest in quantities as low as a 1:1250 molar ratio of IgG tryptic digest to bovine serum albumin tryptic digest. The novel nanocomposites were further used for the analysis of complex samples, and 1920 glycopeptide backbones from 775 glycoproteins were identified in three replicate analyses of 50 μg of proteins extracted from HeLa cell exosomes. The resulting highly informative mass spectra indicated that this multifunctional nanomaterial-based enrichment method could be used as a promising tool for the in-depth and comprehensive characterization of glycoproteomes in MS-based glycoproteomics.

Cross-linking mass spectrometry (XL-MS) is an emergent technology for studying protein–protein interactions (PPIs) and elucidating architectures of protein complexes. The development of various MS-cleavable cross-linkers has facilitated the identification of cross-linked peptides, enabling XL-MS studies at the systems level. However, the scope and depth of cellular networks revealed by current XL-MS technologies remain limited. Due to the inherently broad dynamic range and complexity of proteomes, interference from highly abundant proteins impedes the identification of low-abundance cross-linked peptides in complex samples. Thus, peptide enrichment prior to MS analysis is necessary to enhance cross-link identification for proteome-wide studies. Although chromatographic techniques including size exclusion (SEC) and strong cation exchange (SCX) have been successful in isolating cross-linked peptides, new fractionation methods are still needed to further improve the depth of PPI mapping. Here, we present a two-dimensional (2D) separation strategy by integrating peptide SEC with tip-based high pH reverse-phase (HpHt) fractionation to expand the coverage of proteome-wide XL-MS analyses. Combined with the MS-cleavable cross-linker DSSO, we have successfully mapped in vitro PPIs from HEK293 cell lysates with improved identification of cross-linked peptides compared to existing approaches. The method developed here is effective and can be generalized for cross-linking studies of complex samples.

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Deep and efficient proteolysis is the critical premise in mass spectrometry-based bottom-up proteomics. It is difficult for traditional in-solution digestion to meet the requirement unless prolonged digestion time and enhanced enzyme dosage are employed, which makes the whole workflow time-consuming and costly. The abovementioned problems could be effectively ameliorated by anchoring many proteases on solid supports. In this work, covalent organic framework-coated magnetic graphene (MG@TpPa-1) was designed and prepared as a novel enzyme carrier for the covalent immobilization of trypsin with a high degree of loading (up to 268 μg mg). Profiting from the advantages of magnetic graphene and covalent organic frameworks, the novel trypsin bioreactor was successfully applied for the enzymatic digestion of a model protein with dramatically improved digestion efficiency, stability, and reusability. Complete digestion could be achieved in a time period as short as 2 min. For the digestion of proteins extracted from Amygdalus pedunculata, a total of 2833 protein groups were identified, which was slightly more than those obtained by 12 h of in-solution digestion (2739 protein groups). All of the results demonstrate that MG@TpPa-1-trypsin is an excellent candidate for sample preparation in a high-throughput proteomics analysis. Graphical abstract Covalent organic frameworks-coated magnetic graphene was prepared as novel carrier for highly efficient tryptic immobilization.

Exosomes are small membrane-bound vesicles secreted by most cell types and play an important role in cell-to-cell communication. The increasing evidence shows that exosomal proteins in urine may be used...